Chapter Text
It is perpetually beyond Kevin why the Master had them change districts.
In all honesty, their previous district didn’t offer any team that could even begin to pose a challenge. However dull the competition may have been, this district includes Palmetto State. The worst of the worst. Absolute aberrations in the sport his mother co-created. A terrible team which made for a terrible match up which made for a terrible game.
It is only by muscle memory that Kevin puts the ball in the goal just before the buzzer goes off. The short blond Kevin and Riko had tried recruiting not too long ago didn’t even attempt to move to block it. If his blood wasn’t already hot from the workout it would be boiling right now. All that talent wasted.
He goes through the motions of lining up and shaking hands without paying much attention to anything around him. The game did not require much effort from any of them but they still played as if this were a serious match. If they didn’t play at 100% they could be certain that the Master would concoct a pretty brutal workout as a punishment.
Kevin does not realise something is amiss until they are back in the changing room. Despite his dislike of the Foxes, he does have to admit their stadium is not all that bad. He appreciates the privacy it offers. He is already stripping his armour, mind still stuck on Andrew Minyard when he catches the look in Jean’s eyes.
The Frenchman’s wariness has Kevin’s hackles raising automatically. With all the subtlety that a lifetime spent in the Nest offers, he swings a glance towards Riko. His brother is displeased. The tightness in his shoulders, the stiffness of his lips, the faraway look in his dark eyes. All the indicators that point towards displeasure but much to Kevin’s relief, not anger.
With his jersey halfway shed, Riko sidles up to him, a sharp smile cut across his pale features. “If you were so eager for a Fox you could have given me a heads up.” Everyone around laughs, though Kevin is having a hard time understanding what Riko means. Riko either doesn’t notice his confusion or is purposely ignoring it because he is annoyed with Kevin. Knowing his Riko, it’s the latter.
The smaller striker turns away from Kevin just as Johnson asks him, “So who are you picking?” He is saved from answering as the team is herded into the showers. Riko is gone too quickly for Kevin to ply him for answers but Jean is right behind him.
“You scored the most.” The accent makes the whispered words sound softer than they ought to. The faux softness trips Kevin up for a moment more before a bitter coldness washes over him. He searches Jean’s gray eyes but the backliner does not hold eye contact long enough for Kevin to find anything meaningful.
Jean slips away towards the showers and Kevin can only stand frozen, flexing his fingers in an effort to not pull his hair out. His teeth grind together almost painfully as he sucks in an unwilling breath. If Riko were here he’d tease Kevin for it. Mock the way his laboured breathing sounds like wheezing. Or he’d just lash out. You never know with Riko nowadays exactly what will or won’t set him off.
With a drawn out exhale, Kevin pushes himself towards the showers. He doesn’t dare utter the curses towards himself but he certainly thinks some very colourful stuff. The match was so mind numbingly easy. So genuinely boring. Not a challenge or interesting play in sight. He’d slipped into autopilot unknowingly and now he has to rue the consequences. He’s scored the most. More than Riko.
His brother thankfully doesn’t seem angry as of yet but his moods are changeable and there is still the issue of the winner's ‘privilege.’ Kevin as a rule makes an effort to not score more than Riko. It keeps his brother satiated, both on the Court and off it. Kevin’s life is easier when Riko is in a good mood and so is Jean’s. It’s not so much a sacrifice in Kevin’s mind. He does not want to claim the ‘privilege’ but to not do so would be damning to his reputation.
As he slips into an empty stall, he runs through his mental catalogue of the Foxes. It’s not a large roster but it does include three women. One is a goalie so that automatically takes her out of the running. He doesn’t think he would pick her anyway, he’d feel like too much of an asshole. He hears she is quite pleasant and sweet. She also seems to have struck an unlikely friendship with Jean. She’s not a choice available to him so there is no need to consider her.
There is the captain, Wilds. Just the thought has Kevin scrunching his nose against the shower spray. There are no rules against it. Kevin could pick her and no one should bat an eye. He could claim that she’s one of the few half decent players on the Foxes line up and that choosing her is a recognition of that skill. Truthfully though, it causes an unpleasant coldness settling deep in his bones. Choosing the captain is the sort of power play or mockery he has seen Riko pull. He loves his brother but he can’t get onboard with how he enjoys humiliating teams he dislikes.
That leaves the defensive dealer, Reynolds. He sighs heavily but quietly into the steam. She is aesthetically gorgeous and would be the most respectable choice to Kevin’s teammates. Most respectable to the Master as well. Although the woman seems vapid and catty by all Kevin knows of her, he doesn’t need to like her personality. He just needs to be able to get it up with her. It would be humiliating not to, unpleasant or not, she is pretty.
He shuts the water off with his mind made up. There is no need for him to consider the rest of the Foxes. He’d be in for a pretty severe beating from the Master or Riko if he chose a man. It would have no strategic purpose, the Foxes are terrible and an affront to exy. So he doesn’t bother considering the men as he dresses. He’ll choose Reynolds, claim his ‘privilege,’ and get out of there the moment it is acceptable.
He’s pulling a shift over his head when his dear brother throws a wrench in the plan. “Not much choice but who are you thinking?” There is an unpleasant smile stretched over Riko’s lip but Kevin can only relax minutely. Riko may be difficult to read nowadays but Kevin can see the genuine mirth dancing in his dark eyes. No beating it would seem. At least not for Kevin. At least not today.
Before he can answer his teammates chime in with their opinions.
“Surely Number 7!”
“No other choice, the only other woman is a goalie.”
“Their captain is a woman.”
“Could have fooled me.”
“We expect a review Kevin!”
Kevin tunes out the hollering while also casting his gaze away from Riko. Said striker lets the team throw around some more comments, knowing that if anyone from the opposing side heard, they would be bringing this to the judges to cancel the ‘privilege’. Kevin wouldn’t mind but Riko unfortunately silences the peanut gallery before the remarks can escalate.
The rest of the team file out but Riko stops Kevin with a swift hand coming to rest in the crook of his elbow. Between one breath and the next, Kevin and Riko are left alone in the changing room. Briefly he wonders if he misread Riko’s mood but casts that aside upon further inspection. Riko is scheming something and Kevin will likely be a pawn in whatever he comes up with.
“You won’t choose 7.” Is not what he expects to fall from his brother's mouth. He can only straighten the arm within Riko’s grasp and tilt his head. The decisiveness leaves no room for argument, Kevin knows he can only wait for orders. He doesn’t wait long before the unpleasant smile twists into something malicious, something that has Kevin’s stomach doing flips.
“You’ll choose 5.” The immediate shock that washes over Kevin has Riko tipping his head back and laughing. As the smaller striker turns away, Kevin can only look after him, confusion twisting his features into a scowl. The small, blond backliner who hardly seemed like he wanted to be there? The one who didn’t even come close to any of their strikers? Why would Riko throw him to the mercy of the Master over someone so utterly irrelevant?
Riko is already reaching for the door, the last dredges of laughter still hanging on while Kevin pushes through his initial shock. “Riko.” Whether it was desperate or petulant sounding, Kevin is not sure. He also isn’t sure which is worse but surprisingly enough Riko turns back towards him, amusement and maliciousness mixing into something grotesque right before him.
“Kevin.” Riko begins, the smile genuine but no more soothing. “I spoke to the Master, he approved this plan.” While that does placate Kevin with the threat of a beating no longer hanging over his head, it does nothing to alleviate his confusion. This is not one of Riko’s moods, where he has Kevin do something they both know will displease the Master so that he will be punished. He almost expected that with Kevin accidentally stealing Riko’s privilege. Now his brother has confirmed it is not that.
He pins Riko with questioning eyes and his brother only rolls his own in return. “I need to spell it out for you?” Kevin doesn’t respond and that is enough of an answer to Riko. “5 is Minyard’s twin. Minyard tried to make fools of us when we offered to sign him. Remember?” Kevin does, in fact, remember both of these things. He still does not know what this has to do with him picking the uninteresting Minyard for his ‘privilege.’
This time Riko sighs, irritation heavy between them as he pins Kevin with a decidedly unimpressed look. “Revenge Kevin. Minyard thought he could play us without consequences, now you’re going to make his identical twin your bitch for an hour.” The crudeness of his explanation belies that Riko’s irritation is spiking into a dangerous territory for Kevin. “My sources tell me that this will be a much more successful lesson for the cur than if we were even able to choose him.”
With that final cruelty, Riko slips out of the room and starts back towards the court. Kevin only takes a moment to process before he is catching up with long strides. Merely a half step behind his own captain, he tries not to think. He knows that Riko has a strong dislike towards Minyard over the failed recruitment. Kevin himself finds himself embroiled in pretty bitter thoughts of his own on the rare occasion. It doesn’t seem fair to punish the other Minyard though.
Exy, though it may be co-ed, is still a vastly male dominated sport. The gender discrepancy means that women are not only cautious when picking what team to play for but also what position. The average female exy player has a much higher chance of being chosen than the average male. When a man is chosen, by another man, it is usually about strategy, humiliation, making a point. It can be about those things with the female players as well but more often than not, it isn’t.
Everyone will know that this isn’t about strategy. The others might connect the dots faster than Kevin though. This is about making a point but more than that, it’s about humiliation. It’s about hurting someone you can’t touch within the bounds of the rules. Riko is good at hurting others in ways that fit inside the rules. Very good. He has no doubt that this will hurt Minyard, not if Riko says so. The idea of claiming anyone sits heavy in Kevin’s stomach but knowing that he’s being used to hurt two people, rather than just embarrassing one, has his eyes glued to the floor as they walk.
Much too soon, he finds himself back on the court and falling into place beside Jean. Behind Riko. Always behind Riko. The Foxes are lined up in front of them. Several are glaring at him, as if Kevin has single handedly created the concept of a winner’s ‘privilege.’ Exy is by far not the only sport with this particular oddity written into its rules. Kevin has no choice but to claim his ‘privilege,’ the hazing he would have to bear if he didn’t would be the least of his concerns.
What did cause a lump to close up Kevin’s throat was the defiant and daring way both Wilds and Reynolds looked down at him, despite being shorter. The Foxes lose a lot of their matches, the two must be used to being chosen. Reynolds especially. It takes Kevin out of it for a moment, just considering losing a match and being eliminated from the Championship, then having to submit to an hour at the winner’s beck and call? It has him suppressing a shiver that climbs recklessly up his spine.
A silence infused with defiance and mirth is shattered by the Foxes captain. The woman stands at her full height with her chin tipped up, as if indicating that they are all below her. “Day’s choice?” It’s sharp, and laced with so much disgust that Kevin is reminded that in the few instances the Foxes have won their matches, they always refused to claim the ‘privilege.’ The Trojans are the only other team who always refuse to claim the ‘privilege,’ though of course they are much more noteworthy.
He can’t see Riko’s face but if the Foxes are any indication, his brother doesn’t have the kindest facial expression plastered across his features at the moment. He watches hackles raise and lips pull back in snarls that promise pain, if only it were a possibility to inflict. “Kevin has made his choice, kind of you for asking.” Riko lays the mockery on a bit thick, even to Kevin’s ears and he is hardly listening.
The silence that follows is broken only because Jean has the wherewithal to pinch Kevin’s side subtly, silently reminding him he has to announce his pick. Kevin stares all of the Foxes down and can’t help but let his mind snag on Minyard. He isn’t wearing his goalie uniform anymore and without his helmet, Kevin can actually see his face. He knows the blond is being medicated. He expects a manic smile. If not that, he expects tiredness. All he sees is the faraway expression of someone whose mind is far from their body.
He opens his mind to speak and only then realises that he doesn’t actually know the other Minyard’s name. He hesitates for a second before deciding to just say, “Minyard.” Only one of them is eligible to be chosen after all. He watches as the Foxes’ snarls are broken by shock. Murmurs rise up from both teams and Kevin can all but see the questioning look Jean sends his way.
It’s Number 8, the Minyard’s cousin if Kevin recalls correctly, that finds his words first. “Whoa! Whoa! You can’t pick Andrew, he’s a goalie.” He speaks quickly but the teasing mockery he projects is a poor mask for his anger. Kevin scrunches up his nose and flushes red with irritation. “I know the rules! The other one obviously.” He snaps back, insulted at being lectured about any part of the rules revolving exy by anyone on this failure of a team.
“You’ll understand the confusion since you’re looking right at Andrew.” The tall backliner, Boyd, shoots back at him with a sardonic smile that has Kevin’s own hackles rising. He opens his mouth to snipe at the Foxes but Riko beats him to it. “Is he?” The words are spoken quietly in comparison to the ruckus surrounding them. There is a surety to them that has everyone, coaches included pausing. When silence reigns again, Kevin sees Riko’s smile widen into something sharp enough to cut a diamond. “Is he looking at Andrew?”
No one attempts to speak but Kevin can see the smallest of ways in which the Foxes answer Riko’s question. The way some start shifting from one foot to the other. The eyes that start darting between ‘Andrew’ and the other one. The tightening of muscles. The way that the ‘other Minyard’ pins his stare onto Kevin. The twins seemingly tried to pull a switcheroo and Riko has caught them out in a lie.
‘Andrew’s’ far away expression has fallen away into a glare. Kevin momentarily forgets how to breathe and from the corner of his eye he sees the Foxes coach coming closer, opening his mouth as if he is about to speak. The man never gets a word out, Riko beats him to it. “We are happy to overlook this deceit.” He begins and lets the unsaid ‘but’ hang over all of them long enough to cause even Kevin to start sweating.
Riko shifts on his feet and now he is half facing Kevin and half facing the Foxes coach. He can see the childish glee lighting up his brother's features and it has him looking away. “However,” Riko drags out every syllable of the word, enjoying the undivided attention, the way he has everyone on the court at his mercy. Kevin can see the hardness seeping into the Foxes coach and it has him looking away from that man as well.
“One of your players is disregarding a court order.” The accusation is true but it has Kevin’s breath catching somewhere in his lungs and refusing to dislodge. There are sharp intakes of breath all around and his eyes fall on ‘Andrew’ against his will. The blond backliner is staring right back. There is anger but more prevalent is disgust, annoyance and even concern. At his core, Kevin is a coward, so he looks away from his claimed prize as well.
“What do you want?” There isn’t a drop of feeling in the words but there is a threat. All eyes, Kevin’s included, snap over to the ‘other Minyard.’ Or rather, all eyes snap over to Andrew, pretending to be his twin. Hazel eyes bore into not Kevin but Riko.
“Until tomorrow.” The suddenness with which Riko spews the words has Kevin second guessing if he had actually spoken. The outrage the sparks across the Foxes within moments confirms that Kevin did not imagine it. The request is outrageous but then again, Riko could cripple the Foxes by reporting Minyard not taking the meds he is court ordered to.
Riko shakes his head and sighs before loudly reiterating. “Kevin will have Minyard,” he pauses long enough to point at the exact blond he means, “that one.” He pauses only momentarily to level Andrew with a smug smirk. “And Kevin will have him until tomorrow morning. We have to leave at 8am, so until 7am?” Riko asks no one in particular because he has already made up his mind.
“Sounds fair to me, that's not even a full 12 hours, we’re being generous.” Finality follows Riko and all Kevin can see is the way his claimed ‘prize’ is wound up so tight it must be painful. He wonders if the blond is even breathing. The Foxes coach is gearing up to argue with Riko, while Andrew looks like he is about to pounce. Upon a double take, Andrew looks like he is about to gut Riko in front of 40 or so witnesses. The other Foxes are divided between readying for an argument and readying to prevent a murder.
Kevin wishes he could speak up. Wishes he could end this whole debacle by refusing to claim the ‘privilege.’ He can’t. He won’t. So he just waits to do what Riko tells him to do. ‘Not Andrew’ is looking at him again but it’s more assessing than anything else. He has to fight a flush. Trying to silence his traitorous brain is useless so all he does is attempt to ignore the way his broken mind is appreciating his ‘prize.’
Arguments devolve into yelling all around him and he can vaguely hear Jean mumbling something about the way Andrew is about to kill Riko. He is so busy trying to ignore his useless thoughts, that he completely misses the catalyst for the sudden silence that rips across the court. He can’t help but look around before he realises that everyone is looking at the other MInyard.
The blond is looking Kevin in the eyes, a defiant edge in his voice. He doesn’t waver when he says, “Fine. I’ll do it.”